Facebook chief security officer to leave over conflicts on handling misinformation – report

MANILA, Philippines – The New York Times reported on Monday, March 19, that it is only a matter of time before Facebook senior executive and chief security officer, Alex Stamos, leaves the company over disagreements on the handling of misinformation on the social media platform.

Stamos reportedly had disputes with colleagues about disclosure of Russian Facebook interference during the 2016 US elections.

As a result of his desire to resign, Facebook has allegedly reassigned his team of 120 employees to the product and infrastructure divisions; only leaving 3 to work with him. He was persuaded to stay until August of this year to oversee this transition and ensure that the company does not look bad.

“Despite the rumors, I’m still fully engaged with my work at Facebook. It’s true that my role did change,” Stamos confirmed in a tweet. He did not deny reports of leaving and added that he is “currently spending more time exploring emerging security risks and working on election security.”

Despite the rumors, I’m still fully engaged with my work at Facebook. It’s true that my role did change. I’m currently spending more time exploring emerging security risks and working on election security.

— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) March 19, 2018

According to the report, Stamos had put together a team to investigate Russian interference in June 2016. Months later, he uncovered evidence of Facebook being used as a tool for pushing propaganda.

Internally, the legal and policy team were at odds with the the security team. The report goes on to say that the security team wanted more disclosure about what they uncovered but, the legal and policy teams wanted to prioritize the business imperatives.

Before joining Facebook in 2015, Stamos was the chief information security officer at Yahoo where he resigned after discovering that US intelligence were scanning emails on the platform, as reported by The Verge.

Stamos, these past few months, has been very critical of Facebook and its policies amidst the current data privacy scandal controversy surrounding the social media giant and data analysis firm, Cambridge Analytica.  – Rappler.com